Arizona hopes McKale magic can confound Pac-12 leading Washington
Arizona is in the midst of a rare losing streak, and task of ending it hasn't been made any easier with the loss of leading scorer Allonzo Trier to a broken hand.
The Wildcats play their first game without Trier on Thursday night, hosting Pac-12 leader Washington State at McKale Center (FOX Sports 1, 7 p.m.). But they can at least gain some comfort in playing in front of the home crowd -- where they've won 47 consecutive games.
No. 18 Arizona (13-3, 1-2) will be trying to avoid its first three-game slide in nearly six years after losing 87-84 at UCLA and 103-101 at USC in quadruple overtime last week.
The Wildcats (13-3, 1-2) are back in Tucson searching for answers after an 87-84 loss at UCLA last Thursday and a 103-101 quadruple-overtime defeat at USC on Saturday.
Arizona, which hadn't lost back-go-back games since March 2012, gave up an average of 61.8 points in its first 13 games before letting opponents score 90.7 in conference play.
"In many ways this trip will have great meaning for our future," coach Sean Miller said. "It's good for our guys to see how we feel when we're not a good defensive team."
Trier, a 6-foot-6 freshman guard, is averaging 14.8 ponts per game and had scored 20 or more in three of his last four outings.
"I feel terrible for Allonzo because we've watched him grow since early November and I think he's getting better in all aspects of the game," Miller said.
Gabe York had 21 points and Kaleb Tarczewski added 16 and 12 rebounds against USC. Ryan Anderson, however, hopes to bounce back after finishing with five points on 2-of-7 shooting. The senior forward had averaged 15.5 points over his previous 11.
The Wildcats are happy to be home as they try to avoid their first three-game losing streak since Feb. 13-25, 2010. They've won by an average of 22.2 points during the longest active home winning streak in the nation, which dates to a 77-69 loss to California in February 2013.
That run, though, could be threatened by a young Washington team that has come out of the first two weeks of the Pac-12 schedule in sole possession of first place.
The Huskies (11-4, 3-0) beat then-No. 25 UCLA 96-93 in double overtime on Jan. 1 before rallying from 22 points down to defeat USC 87-85 two days later. They escaped with a 99-95 overtime win at Washington State on Saturday.
"We've played three games and have 15 to go," said coach Lorenzo Romar, whose team of mostly freshmen was picked to finish 11th. "We wouldn't trade it to be 0-3 but there is just so much time. Two weeks have gone by, and there are nine weeks."
Arizona will have to find a way to contain Andrew Andrews, who leads the conference with 21.6 points per game. The senior guard has been on a roll, scoring 35 against UCLA, 24 versus USC and 29 against Washington State.
He had 18 points and 11 rebounds in an 86-62 home loss in the only meeting last season. The Huskies have lost the last four in the series and seven of the past eight at Arizona.
"The last few years, we've just been outclassed," Romar said.
